Just Be Luce
by petiteshima
Summary: "To get attention, my attention, just be...Luce."


**Woo-hoo, I finished this in record timing O_O**

**This is my first NaLu fanfic; please be kind! xD I apologise in advance if any of the charactesr are OOC!**

**p.s I ship Laxus/Mirajane, just a heads up! :3**

_**Disclaimer - I don't own Fairy Tail, it belongs to Hiro Mashima :)**_

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><p>"No <em>way<em>."

Lucy Heartfilia kneeled in front of her dresser, the bottom drawer still open as she gingerly held an item of clothing in her hands.

Well, what was _left_ of it.

In her hands Lucy _should_ have been holding her black, low, v-neck mini dress which cut off just above mid-thigh length that she had only worn brand new the day before. And now…well it was nothing but a piece of warm, scorched black material that, if you looked close enough, was still giving off smoke that stung Lucy's eyes.

Shoving the bottom drawer closed, Lucy stood up and walked towards her bed, the remains of her dress clutched in her hands as she sat on the edge in a daze. She was _positive_ she had put the dress into her drawer last night after returning from the guild; and it was most certainly _not_ charred to a single square of material!

She had loved that dress, despite only wearing it once. She had bought it whilst shopping with Erza and Juvia, Levy had been on a mission with _Gajeel _of all people at the time so she could not join them. Juvia and Erza had both praised her appearance in the dressing room when she had tried on the dress so naturally she had bought it.

And it was certainly money well spent when she had worn it the following week. Everywhere she had gone, whether it was the guild or simply walking through the streets of Magnolia, men had watched her every move. Lucy had felt smug when she entered the guild that morning after being asked out _five_ times by complete, albeit handsome, strangers; she'd never felt so confident in her life!

At the guild the reaction to her dress was even more satisfying, heck even _Gajeel_ had complimented her with a gruff "Looking good Bunny Girl". Gray simply nodded in appreciation; it was as if he knew Juvia would kill Lucy if he voiced his opinion out loud. Laxus was the biggest surprise of all, even turning his attention away from his conversation with Mirajane was a feint of its own. All together Lucy was buzzing and her ego was at an all time high as everyone complimented her appearance…well not _everyone_.

Lucy cringed as she remembered Natsu's reaction. He'd merely looked at her with a blank expression before a frown appeared on his usual cheerful face. For the rest of the day he sulked and pouted as Lucy chatted away to her guild mates, particularly her male nakama.

"What's wrong with you today?" Lucy had asked him outside of her apartment that night, after brushing off another male admirer. All Lucy got as an answer was a shrug before Natsu walked away, leaving Lucy confused and a quite hurt by his distant behaviour.

Lucy allowed herself to fall back onto her bed, the burnt dress still clutched tightly in her hands. She looked at the scrap of black fabric, not quite sure what to make of it. Lucy didn't bring it too close, the smoke was still rising from the cloth and it was unpleasant to her eyes.

Lucy suddenly sat bolt upright. The material was still quite warm and if you took the smoke into account as well.

"You can't get smoke without fire," Lucy mumbled to herself, her eyes hardened as she picked up her keys and marched out of her apartment, "And you can't get fire without Natsu."

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><p>"Explain <em>this<em>," Lucy slammed the ruined dress onto the table that Natsu was sitting at, causing the Dragon Slayer to flinch ever so slightly in surprise.

"Well?" Lucy prompted him, folding her arms as she waited for the Salamander to find his voice.

"What happened to your dress Luce?"

"IDIOT!" Lucy exclaimed, drawing the attention of her other nakama, "Don't you dare lie to me Natsu!"

Natsu looked up at Lucy with wide eyes, feigning innocence, "Whatcha talking about Luce?"

Lucy was ready to hit the Salamander, but she restrained herself before speaking once again, "I woke up this morning to find the dress I wore yesterday had been burnt to a crisp," She pointed to the charred fabric on the table, "I _wonder_ how that happened, huh Natsu?"

"You mean this is the black dress?"

"Yes."

"That's it there."

"Yes."

"But Luce," Natsu looked at the material before looking back to the Celestial Mage, "this doesn't look like a dress."

Lucy growled in frustration at her dense partner, "That's the point _Natsu_. _Someone_burnt my dress last night and I've a pretty good idea who it is."

"If you know then why are you asking me idiot?"

Slamming both hands onto the table and leaning towards the salmon-haired mage, Lucy tried to keep her voice level as her anger seeped through, "Because, _idiot_, you and I both know that _you_did this to my dress."

What Natsu said next, well to put it simply, was not what Lucy had been expecting the fire mage to say.

"It didn't suit you anyway."

Lucy blinked in surprise, completely taken aback by her partner's blunt response.

"E-excuse _me_?"

Natsu rested his chin on his hand, avoiding Lucy's stare as he spoke, "I said it didn't suit you anyway."

Embarrassment. Hurt. Rejection. Anger. Confusion. Lucy didn't know until now that she could feel so many emotions in such a short space of time. And the fact that it was _Natsu_, her best friend, partner, nakama, saying this to her made those seven little worlds affect her even more.

"Y-you could have told me that yesterday," Lucy managed to find her voice after a few seconds of silence. Natsu just shrugged, his response drawing out the anger from Lucy's cluster of emotions.

"Everyone else thought I suited the dress perfectly!" Lucy spoke defiantly as Natsu turned to face her, "And now I won't get to wear it again thanks to _you_!"

Natsu rose to his feet, "You're welcome. I was doing you a favour," He spoke evenly, not showing a hint of remorse for wounding Lucy's ego that was deflating by the second.

"A favour? You call breaking into my house and ruining a dress that cost me six hundred jewels a _favour_? I _needed_ that dress Natsu, it made me feel _good_ about myself!" Lucy had tears in her eyes as she jabbed her finger at Natsu, her feelings of hurt were finally surfacing, "Ever since we came back from Tenrou Island I've been ignored and looked down upon because of the guild everywhere in Magnolia. For once I felt like my confidence was coming back like it used to be and I was _happy_. And _you_ just had to ruin that, didn't you?"

"You don't need a dress to get attention Luce," Natsu murmured, his cheeks flushed.

Lucy stopped, her mouth hung open, as she had been about to continue her rant, and gawked at the Dragon Slayer.

"Huh?" Was all Lucy could manage to say in reply.

"If you wear something like that all the time then nobody is gonna like you for who you are Luce," Natsu said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously as he spoke, "I mean all those guys yesterday weren't even looking at your face when talking to you…"

'_Since when has Natsu sounded so…mature?' _Lucy thought as she managed to choke out, "W-hat are you trying to say Natsu?"

"I'm saying that you don't need to dress to impress everyone all the time …especially me. To get attention, my attention, just be…Luce."

Lucy felt her face grow warm as Natsu spoke; he too was blushing just as much as she was.

"Thank you Natsu," A small smile graced her face as the Salamander finally met her eyes, "I'll keep that in mind."

Natsu looked at her in surprise before his trademark smile appeared on his face, "No problem Luce. And I'm sorry about your dre-."

"Don't mention it," She cut him off, her smile was a lot brighter now, "Besides, you were doing me a favour, right?"

"Right!"

Happy chose this moment to pop up between the two mages.

"They llllllllike each other."

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><p>Juvia and Gray sat at the bar beside Laxus who was leaning against the counter and had been talking to Mirajane, All four of them watching Lucy proceed to chase Happy around the guild whilst Natsu just laughed.<p>

"Jeez, those two are so dense," Gray muttered, "can't they both see that they like each other?"

Mirajane glared at Gray whilst Laxus grunted. Juvia simply began to cry.

Gray looked at the other three mages in confusion.

"What did I do wrong?"

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><p><strong>Oh Gray, tsk tsk. <strong>

**In advance, Happy Valentine's Day! ^_^ **

**Please Review! :3**


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